Members meet for Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk at Sherwood Island State Park.

Tu B’Shevat

Tu B’Shvat, the New Year of Trees, falls on the fifteenth day of the month of Shvat. It originated in a pagan festival honoring Asherah, goddess of farmers and fertility. Her chief festival took place at the end of the rainy season, when the sap begins to rise in the fruit trees of Israel. –… Read More

Passover

Our Congregation celebrates Passover together each year with a humanistic seder for families on the second night, as well as a children’s model seder during Sunday School. Although Passover began as a nature holiday, celebrating new life, it became a commemoration of the biblical exodus and the escape from slavery in ancient Egypt. Jews today read… Read More

Invitation to Join

Families are the future of CHJ. Our inclusive, warm, welcoming Congregation includes families of all stripes coming together to celebrate Judaism and being Jewish. From Baby Naming to Sunday School to Bar & Bat Mitzvah to the Teen Tzedakah Group to Adult Ed, you’ll find a community for families and kids of all ages. Humanistic… Read More

A Letter from the President

As I write this on a late January day, the inches of snow and ice have mostly melted and the near 50 degree temperatures are tempting me outside after the crazy cold and ongoing snow. It’s not quite the right weather for this time of year, but the draw of spring gives me hope for the turning season somewhere ahead. Therefore I am looking forward to our Tu B’shvat Seder, both for its promise of spring and new growth and the wonderful feeling of community it always engenders. Each year as I sing with Adam and the congregation, I forget my own troubles and allow myself to simply be with all of you.

It’s an interesting evolution from a date that had early significance simply for calculating the age of the trees for tithing. Trees were not harvested for the first few years in order to allow them to mature. The fact that a fiscal marker became a celebration over time speaks to both the need of humans to find reasons to celebrate and look to the future, and the ability of Jews to adapt and change our practices as circumstances evolve. Therein is the heart of our own humanistic practice, finding what is right for us as secular Jews in the modern world. I look forward to seeing you
at Tu B’shvat and other upcoming events.

Come enjoy refreshments and socializing with CHJ women. A topic is chosen at the gathering. It’s a great way to get to know each other. This will be a potluck breakfast. Please let Suzanne know what you will be bringing.

Homicide detective Meyer Landsman of the District Police has enough problems without worrying about the upcoming Reversion of the Sitka District to Alaskan Control. His life is a shambles, his marriage a wreck, his career a disaster. And in the cheap hotel where Landsman has washed up, someone has just committed a murder—right under his... Read More

Because we were snowed out on December 9th, we will also be celebrating Shabbat/Havdalah across America. We will celebrate the Declaration of Human Rights and begin examining our own privilege, both historically and in the present moment. We live side by side with stunting poverty and hunger and inequality in one of the two richest counties in the... Read More

HuJews Youth Conclave 2018 for teens in grades 8 – 12 and college students “Legacy: Your place in Jewish history” Join us as we discover America’s beginning, the role Jews played in this pivotal time, and learn how to make our mark on the future. Independence Hall, historic Philadelphia, service learning, and doughnuts. Transportation... Read More

Jacqueline Woodson’s Another Brooklyn heartbreakingly illuminates the formative period when a child meets adulthood—when precious innocence meets the all-too-real perils of growing up. In prose exquisite and lyrical, sensuous and tender, Woodson breathes life into memories, portraying an indelible friendship that united young lives. And for a ‘richer experience’ read Brown Girl Dreaming also by... Read More

Gwendolen Harleth gambles her happiness when she marries a sadistic aristocrat for his money. Beautiful, neurotic, and self-centred, Gwendolen is trapped in an increasingly destructive relationship, and only her chance encounter with the idealistic Deronda seems to offer the hope of a brighter future. Deronda is searching for a vocation, and in embracing the Jewish... Read More